Shhhhh … It’s for Adults Only – Adult Coloring Books

My dad sent an email a few months ago that said, “you won’t BELIEVE what your mom is doing!”

“What what WHAT?!” I said.

“She’s coloring in a coloring book!”

Oh. I thought it was gonna be something like, she’s dancing around in her underwear to a Shaun Cassidy album!

The next day I was in O’Hare airport and saw a big display of adult coloring books. Two signs in two days was enough evidence of a trend, no need to see a third sign on a third day. My parents caught this trend before I did! The New Yorker wrote about the trend, giving it sure-fire “adult credibility.”

Apparently it bothers people to see line drawings that aren’t colored in, so there’s a compulsion to fill them in. I understand. Look at this, how can you leave this scene as it is?

That is an Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford. According to Slate, her coloring books for adults have sold more than 1.5 million copies. Oh boy. Like I need another visual hobby!

And like many hobbies, it has benefits beyond making something pretty. It may reduce stress, and people say it feels good. Definitely people are drawn to the drawings (heh heh heh). According to Psychology Today a few months ago, five of the top 30 books on Amazon were adult coloring books! (Looks like that Psychology Today writer doesn’t like the adult coloring books but not everyone wants to get into meditation, and not everyone can draw these scenes from scratch. Let people have their fun!)

Here are some popular adult coloring books. There’s the Secret Garden by Johanna Basford:

Here’s a coloring book with designs inspired by henna and mandalas:

How about a book full of stress relieving patterns? We could all use some of that:

Once you’ve chosen your coloring book(s), you need pencils and pens! Let’s add some color. Buy all the colors! Here’s a few “crowd sourced” best sellers on Amazon:

Sargent Art 50 Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Premier 48 Colored Pencils

Or you can get 24 Prismacolor colored pencils if you don’t need 48 colors. And of course you need a pencil sharpener!

So … go ahead, be like a kid again and even color outside the lines if you want. This is a great project to do on a winter day or a rainy summer day with the kids too — a coloring book for them, a coloring book for you!

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